Here I share my travel experiences of how I travel, what I carry, costs, and the challenges along with lots of photo.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Slot Canyon from Oasis Primer Aguas

This is our second hike starting at the swimming pool ruins at Oasis Primera Aguas. This time we head down river----there is still a river flowing most of the way.

Here is our group pose as we begin our hike to the Slot Canyon. From left to right the hikers are Tracy, Werner, Alex, John and Wes. Gary is working the camera and I am at the dentist still for my 6 month checkup and cleaning for 600 pesos.

We are now heading downstream toward the Slot Canyon trail.

Once we got to the pool ruins, we headed down river to Slot Canyon. The guide book said that it was about a half mile down stream on the left. We were so eager to get there, we headed up one that turned out to be a bushwhacking nightmare.

We turned around and headed down river a bit more and saw that the river suddenly disappeared only to reappear a short way downstream.

Like magic, the river reappears just before Slot Canyon.

Finally, we reach Slot Canyon on the left side of the river where there was a 3 meter obolisk at the entrance along with a dried out river bed leading us up through the canal.

What a magical hike as the walls of the canyon begin to close in on us.

This is really a tight fit.

How do we get out of here??

Here is the choke point of the Slot Canyon hike. We found a knotted rope and watched Tracy, Wes and now Alex climb up with ease. For us old guys it took about two exhausting tries before we got up and over. With strained arms and skinned elbows we were elated to be able to finish this Slot Canyon hike.

Look at the relief that Gary shows at the top of the Slot.

After the rope climb, the rest of the hike was a gradual walk along the river past a ranchero with goats until we came to the main road.

Along this river, we spotted car tire tracks so we knew that we must be near the main road to Oasis Primer Aguas.

Suddendly we reached the road and you can see us heading back to Oasis Primer Aguas.

I finally caught up with the group, and Werner, John and I decided to stop at Del Boracho's to drink a few pitchers of Modela Negra while I augmented my plant based diet with a bacon cheeseburger with a green salad. No french fries for me. It was a great ending to a challenging hike. This is Loreto at its best!

About Me

Hello, my name is Rick Hunt. I retired after 35 years with the Federal governments as a Human Resource manager. I began to realize my love for extended travel especially throughout Asia and Latin America. I started my extended travel adventures 2000 by going to Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and Thailand. In March 2002 I did another tour with Wilderness Travel to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.
After these experiences, I began to do independent traveling to Asia and South American countries—-sometimes combining them with a tour groups to unique places like the Annapurna Circuit, Nepal with Room to Read, homestays in the Ladakh Region of India or Cordillera Blanca and Choquequirao places in Peru with Crooked Trails. The Lonely Planet guides have been indispensable in planning and during my travels. I have now traveled to 43 countries and look forward to seeing more.